"I'm not sure they played particularly well either. They set the tone and we played the role of a team trying to contain them. That was established within five minutes and that was really disappointing. That's not what our preparation looked like.

"Our performance felt a lot worse than that scoreboard suggested. We've got to come up with an idea about what's going to transfer from the training field on to the pitch."

The visitors would have been hoping to challenge for silverware this season, but instead are fighting for their Champions Cup future.

Ulster endured a nightmare start when Cardiff out-half Evans crossed for the game's first try after a mere two minutes of play, after a stunning break from Matthew Morgan.

However, the visitors hit back soon after with scrum-half Cooney knocking over a penalty from 30 metres out.

Lively full-back Morgan made a half-break before the ball was offloaded for US Eagles international Scully to touch down.

Wiehahn Herbst made life a lot harder for the visitors when he cleared out Cardiff out-half Evans with his shoulder and was subsequently sent to the sin-bin.

Ulster managed to win a penalty from the ensuing scrum with Cooney knocking the ball over, but Evans slotted over a penalty to leave Ulster 16-6 behind at the break.

Gibbes' side began the second half strongly with two Cooney penalties, but any hope they had went up in flames when Wales hooker Dacey smashed his way over after a period of sustained pressure from the hosts.

Shanahan grabbed a consolation try when he beat two Cardiff defenders on the outside to touch down, but the Blues put the result out of Ulster's reach when replacement prop Lewis dotted down after a break from Evans.